Food Guys

Sunday 11:52 AM - 12:00 PM

From favorite seasonal recipes, to the roots of our food traditions, to the politics of food, the Food Guys illuminate the culinary world each Sunday, in this 10 minute program produced by Montana Public Radio.

The Food Guys have also been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

(Broadcast: "The Food Guys," 1/4/15. Listen weekly on the radio at 11:50 a.m. Sundays, or via podcast.)

Notes below are taken from Greg Patent's March 4, 2008 "Missoulian" column, where Greg first introduced the recipe (bottom) that Jon Jackson has since adapted to include poblano and chili peppers instead of chard:

Greg shares his recent successful improvisation of two appetizers, or canapés, which he accomplished with some basic know-how and the ingredients in his freezer and cupboard. If you know how to make pâte à choux (cream puff) dough, a Mornay sauce, and blanched greens, you, too, can carry off these hors d'oeuvres with the panache of A Food Guy. Or, as Jon would recommend, just improvise your own.

Greg and Jon are coconut appreciators. They discuss shredded coconut in candy, cookies, cakes and pies; coconut milk, which in baking can substitute for cow's milk; coconut water (in young coconuts); and coconut oil, with its high smoke point. Coconut oil, once thought a culprit in heart disease, has recently undergone a rehabilitation. How do you open a mature coconut?

Jon and Greg discuss a 2013 New York Times opinion piece by Jo Robinson called "Breeding the Nutrition Out of Our Food," which compares the phytonutrient content of wild plants with that of supermarket produce.

Jon and Greg discuss different members of the allium genus - which are actually lilies - and recommend basic tips for cooking onions, specifically onion ragout. Onion quiche, onion pizza, and onions as a side-dish are recommended by Greg. Jon says, "Often I look at a new recipe and if there are no onions, I wonder, "What's wrong with this recipe?"